OVER THE EDGE NEWSPAPER. NOVEMBER 8, 2006 ARTS & CULTURE 15 Ph eoaw: BOR Boo te ag Seguen a a alg Meee 1 1h Create RONG @2tesecesten? eae DANIEL YULE STAFF WRITER On Saturday, October 28, Vanier Hall was temporarily transported back in time to 1925. Although a cell phone or two did go off, the joint presentation of The Phantom of the Opera by the Prince George Symphony Orchestra and Cinema CNC largely recreated an early 20th century movie theatre. Or, as close as those of us born in the latter part of that century will ever get. The evening started off with a bit of theatrics, as the curtains opened to re- veal a coffin on the stage. The coffin door opened to reveal conductor Leslie Dala. He introduced himself (as Dracula) and the guest soprano soloist Andriana Churchman (as herself). After enter- taining us with a few jokes in his ‘Tran- sylvanian accent, he took the conductor's stand and the movie started. Billed in the program as “the greatest horror film ever made” The Phantom of the Opera has been selected for pres- ervation in the United States National Film Registry, and designated as “culrur- ally significant” by the US Library of Congress. This film is certainly a classic. When the film was first released in 1925, the scene in which Christine reveals the Se He rt +4 ot Oe ee eeka an! bert W255 eee Serinbed pect ean a ee week 8 eo uunnae Seg teanenaee is face Sposa Seoeacitcgee eit B rd Phantoms face caused people to scream because the actor playing the Phantom, Lon Chaney, had done his make-up in such a horrific manner. By 1925 stan- dards, this film would certainly be truly frightening. Unfortunately for today's filmgoers, the slew of horror films since have de- sensitized us to such things as sunken eyes and sallow skin. In addition, the fact that the film was silenc and that many film actors from that day learned to act on the stage led to an abundance of overacting. Instead of arching an eye- brow as a modern actor would do, the Phantom waved his arms about when he was surprised, Instead of simply looking lovingly at the object of her affection, the heroine Christine would hold her hands over her heart and lean as close as she could. This is not to say the movie was not enjoyable. It was extremely enjoy- able and a pleasure to watch, but only as a historic exercise, not as a modern film. The music was, overall, extremely ex- cellent. With few exceptions the score was lively and diverse. The ten piece or- chestra balanced the film very well, and except for a few fuzzy notes brought the music to life: The combination of an engaging score anda talented orchestra added immeasurably to the enjoyability of the film. One can only hope it be- comes an annual tradition, JESSE HABER Cast: Left to right: Dolores Drake, Luisa Jojic, Caroline Saulez, Michael O’Malley TABATHA LUNDHOLM ARTS EDITOR Ken Ludwig's Leading Ladies sent the audience into fits of giggles at Theatre North West this past Sunday October 29. His hit play focuses on a parody of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night where two Shakespearean actors decided to pose Leading Ladies Review as heirs to a millionaire whom they hear is recently deceased and had been searching for her relatives. When these two men, Jack Clark played by David: Beairsto, and Leo Gable played by Allen Zinyk, find out that the heirs were ac- tually women, they decide to go through with the scam anyway. The audience was laughing within the first few minutes at the line “Next time we'll bring a stripper!” And it just kept going from there. There were some amazingly well-written lines, and some ~that poked at acting and stage-life:“He's an actor, he lies for a living!” and the nicer: “I think I love the theatre more than anything in the whole world.’ Seemingly impromptu, but very well done tangos, men fighting over whom gets to woo a certain scammer, and plenty of hugs, everyone should mark off their calendar to go see this great performance. Be sure to check out this great com- edy that runs until December 5, as well as the upcoming Powers and Gloria that starts on the tenth of November at The- atre North West. Tickets are $22-26, and you can get them at Books & Co. as well as Studio 2880. Bonnie Raitt Gives us Something to Talk About TYLER CLARKE PRODUCTION COORDINATOR On October 23, Bonnie Raitt took the stage at the CN Centre, with her special guest Maia Sharp, who wrote some of the material from Raitt’s latest album, Souls Alike, Maia Sharp took the stage first, start- ing off with a few basic singet-songwrit- er guitar/vocal songs, which were par- ticularly great not because of the guitar work, but because of her amazing vocals. With vocals like that it’s surprising she’s not more famous than she currently is. She continued her set with a few funky songs, as she sat down in front of a key- board, where her hands flew across it like an early Jerry Lee Lewis. The spent a few songs in between the keyboard and a saxophone, which, aside from a few moments where it pained my ear, was enjoyable, and extremely well done, displaying her vast musical talent. Raitt took the stage next, went off the stage for a second to talk to someone off- stage, then came back on the stage, em- barking on a long set list, which included rock-centred songs, slow acoustic songs, crazy piano-solo-filled songs, and blues songs. She went over many styles of music, which successfully summarized her very long and varied musical career. The crowd cheered loudly for Raite, particularly for her hit song “Something to Talk About,’ though only one couple actually got up and danced. Maia Sharp took the stage alongside Bonnie Raitt a few times, adding back- ing vocals, and her saxophone. Her amazing talent brightened up the songs just enough to make them more inter- esting than the rest. One thing that greatly disappointed me was Raitt's guitar playing, It’s not that anything she did was disappointing; it’s what she didn't do that was disappoint- ing. A few times, near the beginning of the show, she dazzled the audience with amazing guitar solos, which would im- press even the most experienced of gui- tar players. Then, she stopped with the electric guitar, and went to the acoustic, never again to dazzle us with her guitar talent. This is one thing that the show was lacking, and something that greatly disappointed me. Another thing was Raitt's voice. It’s not that Raitt's voice is bad or any- thing, but it was overshadowed by Maia Sharps. After Sharp's set, my standards - were set much too high, and Raitt was, unfortunately, unable to meet them. As usual, the sound at the CN Centre was excellent. I've heard some negative things about the sounds in stadiums, and in the CN Centre in particular, but to this day I've yet to go to a show there and leave disappointed about the sound quality. The lack of Raitt’s guitar work, and the fact that Sharp didn't provide the lead vocals throughout the entire show, wete the only disappointing aspects of this show. Dinner With an Old Friend and a New One AMBER L. RICHARDS STAFF WRITER My friend Jay and I decided to go to the Waddling Duck Inn on Saturday for dinner. That night they had a man named David Sproule playing keyboard and I must say, it made the atmosphere of this Old English Pub was very wel- coming. It was great not having to cook my own dinner and both the music and the food were great. I was thrilled when I was told that I could interview the key- board player, Sproule let me in on a few interesting facts about himself and his music, Sproule has been playing since he was thirteen and he very much enjoys what he does. When I asked him why he choose Jazz music over any other type he told me it was because, “Jazz, is something that you can play with, un- like something like classical which is so structured,’ David also mentioned that he and another jazz musician, Maureen Washington, recorded a Christmas CD together, which is on sale at the Waddling Duck. The song he did with Maureen is called “Baby, Its Cold Out- side’, happily one of my favourite songs, Another of Sproule's accomplishment is that he wrote a musical for a Quesnel school, The musical is called,“A Land of Make Believe.’ Sproule is proud that he has written his own music, I was expecting to hear Sproule perform trad- itional jazz but to my surprise Sproule's music was very mellow. The taste of his music was rather contemporary with a jazzy undertone. Sproule mentioned that the Lower Mainland area plays more jazz style of music than Prince George, Although Prince George is mostly heard for the country music it plays, Sproule would like to see more jazz played around the town, such as café shops and places were you can go and enjoy yourself. Sproule also played music such as “Your Song” by Elton John and Beethov- ens 9th, I was very impressed to see that David rarely looked at the sheet music. I dont know a lot of musicians who can do that. The dinner part of the evening was also excellent. I ordered the salmon tan- gerine salad. and my friend Jay ordered the clam chowder soup. We wete-really impressed with the food; not only was it delicious but there were big chunks of food instead of tiny little pieces. The service was excellent too. The waitress asked if we were enjoying our meal at appropriate times and she was speedy with our food. As soon as we sat down she was there with appetizers and our drinks which consisted of water and nachos. After we had finished our din- ner, the waitress was there with the des- sert menu which looked delicious but Jay and I were too full to eat another bite, I urge anyone and everyone to go to the Waddling Duck not only for the great food but to listen to the sooth- ing music of David Sproule on Satur- day evenings. I must complement you David; you do a wonderful job. Thanks again!